How are the mats there? My place is in the process of getting new ones, which means the current ones are pretty old. Falling isnt that bad but the mats spread apart and I'm constantly catching my toes. This sport is awful on your feet. Best of luck and do your best not to get caught in randori with an ippon seo nagi from a black belt... Getting thrown with that one sucks.

Mats are VERY nice. Blue rubberized canvas covered foam that velcro's together hard, with canvas covering over it all. Since I show my n00bness in botched landings all the time, it's jarring as hell, but non-painful.

I participated in my first randori on Friday night, my second class. I watched a bit, then asked someone about it. They said 'go for a black belt, or watch and see who the small people pick, because that person will be a bit kinder'. I decided to test that theory, and it was oh-so-true. The two black belts were very gentle when thEy threw me, the white belts, um, no. Ow.

It's pretty physically challenging. Fridays class tore me up. I haven't done any fighting for around 10 years, when I got my ass kicked for 3 months in Israel. I recover a lot slower now, dammit.

lol..yeah, stay away from white belts. I was lucky and paired up with a guy who came over from JJ so we both new a bunch of throws; the other guys will throw you at all sorts of weird angles.

A little trick that helped me, especially against the black belts...use left handed throws. Most white belts will only do right handed so they guard against them. But if you catch them with one, be ready for the consequences!

At this point, nothing will help me, left, right, it doesn't matter. THey so completely dominate me, lol. I did a few successful sweeps tonight, got the timing straight, but mostly I'm relying on strength, and I get tired, then they play with me.

i have been lookin to get in one of these mma classes...i was just curious of what the difference is between a couple of them. What Differs between judo and ju jitzu(however you spell it). I think both would be a hella work out tho

Neither are MMA, though judo can be used in MMA. Judo is derived from juijitsu. about 120 years ago, some guy decided to really examine what was being taught in jiujitsu, throw out what was ineffective, and adapt it to a western training style, meaning they train full force and full contact, but in a safe way that you could survive more than one class. He taught his students this way, than took them to a big jiujitsu competition, where they kicked jiujitsus ass all over the place. This became judo.

Or something like that. Jiujitsu has some more brutal techniques, strikes, and other good stuff, but judokas train hard and realistically, ie with a resisting opponent.

Neither are MMA, though judo can be used in MMA. Judo is derived from juijitsu. about 120 years ago, some guy decided to really examine what was being taught in jiujitsu, throw out what was ineffective, and adapt it to a western training style, meaning they train full force and full contact, but in a safe way that you could survive more than one class. He taught his students this way, than took them to a big jiujitsu competition, where they kicked jiujitsus ass all over the place. This became judo.

Or something like that. Jiujitsu has some more brutal techniques, strikes, and other good stuff, but judokas train hard and realistically, ie with a resisting opponent.

Jujitsu is all about randori, full force sparring.
Judo modified jujitsu to make a sport out of it and eliminate the nasty brutal submissions. I think the only submissions you are allowed in judo are armbars, am I correct?

So we pretty much do all the throws that judo has, all the submissions they don't do, and the striking, which is what karate was originally derived from, only we do it in a more practical way keeping the hands up guarding your face.

Training at an mma specific place you would probably get better stand up striking, ground and pound, and conditioning, but jujitsu's submissions are better.

Jujitsu is all about randori, full force sparring.
Judo modified jujitsu to make a sport out of it and eliminate the nasty brutal submissions. I think the only submissions you are allowed in judo are armbars, am I correct?

So we pretty much do all the throws that judo has, all the submissions they don't do, and the striking, which is what karate was originally derived from, only we do it in a more practical way keeping the hands up guarding your face.

Training at an mma specific place you would probably get better stand up striking, ground and pound, and conditioning, but jujitsu's submissions are better.

You can only do arm locks and chokes. You also cannot extend the spine to get the choke in.

I switched from JJ to Judo because of a scheduling conflict and your right, we do a lot of "judo" throws as well as all the submissions. The nice thing about Judo, at least in my part of the country, is that there are tournaments almost every weekend. Once I get out of the open weight division and into the heavy weight (220 max) then I'll start fighting.

Poison,
That 'some guy" comment about the inventor of Judo would have gotten you thrown one by one by all the black belts at our club. Jigoro Kano...remember that name just in case your instructors feel the same way

zbtboy, lol, you are right, I'd have been thrown into a wall for that comment! I just couldn't remember his name. I also LOVE the fact that there are frequent judo competitions, and my dojo really wants students to compete.

As for bjj>judo...it depends on your needs. Both are very good, with bjj having taken one aspect of judo to its peak of effectiveness. However, that focus limits its uses. I'd take judo over bjj in a street fight any day, and twice on Sundays. I'm a bodyguard, and the last thing I need is to go to the ground while my client is attacked, runs away in fear and I lose him, or otherwise things go to ****. I need the standup effectiveness.

zbtboy, lol, you are right, I'd have been thrown into a wall for that comment! I just couldn't remember his name. I also LOVE the fact that there are frequent judo competitions, and my dojo really wants students to compete.

As for bjj>judo...it depends on your needs. Both are very good, with bjj having taken one aspect of judo to its peak of effectiveness. However, that focus limits its uses. I'd take judo over bjj in a street fight any day, and twice on Sundays. I'm a bodyguard, and the last thing I need is to go to the ground while my client is attacked, runs away in fear and I lose him, or otherwise things go to ****. I need the standup effectiveness.

I'm not sure I understand... how exactly do you subdue the attacker? By continuing to throw them?

You ever been throw with malice, on pavement? You won't get up too fast, and that's without finishing you off with another technique/arm break/kick to the head.

Judoka train on the ground, too. Where do you think a bjj came from? A wrestler shoots, there's an answer in judo. I'm not saying its the end all, I just find it more well rounded and fitting my needs better than BJJ.

I'm not sure I understand... how exactly do you subdue the attacker? By continuing to throw them?

WHat if a wrestler shoots and takes you down?

In the end they are two different sports. I'm not flexible enough to do a lot of the things in JJ but can do most, if not all, of the stuff in Judo. And believe me, taking a forward throw is not fun, even on a mat! On the street if I threw someone with one they would be hurt or at least getting up real slow....and if your smart (if its a 1-1 fight) you can transition right to the ground from that throw.

Also, double and single leg takedowns are legal "throws" in Judo so we learn to defend them. A lot of the younger guys at my club are former wrestlers so i see a lot of them.

why compare them? Its like comparing basketball to football; they are different sports. Hell, most of the good grappler's i've met in Judo have BJJ backgrounds and there are some active BJJ people at our club cause they want to do something different....they are fun to play too cause they always try to pull guard from standing and if they do hit it they give me the win for the takedown....they learn real quick to stay away from the sacrifice throws.

I don't train in Judo but I do think it looks cool! I also think it probably has some very good street applications if you can apply a throw or take down even if you have to run afterward you will probably live, that is a win in my book.

Poison, I agree with your comments the last place I want to be is on the ground pulling off a world class submission while some guys budy or girlfriend tees off on the back of my head. Unfortunately real world fights are rarely "fair", fair ends somewhere around Jr High.

Just train hard, study the art you pick, read, listen take an interest in how it was designed and you will be able to kick most peoples ass within reason or at least get away alive.

You are learning to fight which most people simply don't do, as well as developing your cardio and reflexes for fighting which is different than most sports. After a year or two in one art you can always start cross-training in another in which case your learning curve will be even shorter.

It would be great to see more threads discussing what people have learned that applies/works when in a real confrontation than the "my martial art is better than yours" debates.

i have been doin judo for 13 years, i am 4o and can still hang with most of the younger guys, whats great about judo is you can do it forever, mma careers at high levels dont last long, also you should mix in some bjj, though judo has most of the same ground tecniques. stick with it , the more you do it the more you like it. good luck

So far, I love it! It's a hard workout, people are very nice, and I get around 45 minutes of sparring every class. since it's judo, it's all 'full-contact', so it's great. It's a crash course in body mechanics and physics. The learning curve is steep, as you have hand movements, foot movements, and body position necessary for every throw, and you have to match that with your opponents movement. Good stuff, though. I think if I add in a striking art, or implement what I already know, it would be a dangerous combination.

Well, I'm into my third month now. Interesting stuff, from many perspectives. It's not a huge sport in the US, but it's HUGE worldwide, and we get a lot of passers-through from other countries. WE also get some BJJ guys who want to improve their standup, and we just had a Mongolian world level sumo wrestler show up to train long-term, all 340lbs of him.

Class is all business, but laid back with little traditional pretense, and they do push competition. If you compete, they demand that you win, none of this new-age 'everyone's a winner' bull****. We train hard, and fight hard, it's nearly an hour of fighting per class; 15 minutes of ground-fighting, 45 minutes of standup.

I couldn't be more pleased. I'm slowly returning to my post-military lean, mean, fighting machine shape and mentality; my co-ordination and reflexes are improving, and I'm enjoying learning something totally new and different than anything I've ever done.

I think a lot of people here would find it beneficial to whatever their game is.